GAAR: BJP questions PM's review of Finance Minister's decision

NEW DELHI: Amid a controversy over the Prime Minister distancing himself from draft guidelines issued by the Finance Ministry on General Anti-Avoidance Rules, BJP today raised questions on the review of the decision and sought an open debate on the issue.

BJP also said that the review of the decisions taken by outgoing Finance MinisterPranab Mukherjee indicates that either he did not listen to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or Singh did not have idea that these decisions were having the desired effect on economy.

"Now soon after assuming charge of Finance, the Prime Minister has started review of the decisions taken by Finance Minister. PMO has given such indications that there is a need for changes in the present policy. Not even 24 hours have passed that the Finance Minister left his chair, the chair is still hot, he (Singh) has started review and changes," BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said.

He demanded that the Prime Minister should spell out clearly the policy he intends to pursue for recovery of the country's economy and BJP will then decide on how to support.

Joshi, however, said that BJP was not an "obstructionist" and would offer constructive support to the government once the policies are spelt out clearly.

"We demand that the PM should come out quickly with a road-map or else we will be forced to think that the PM was not happy and was dissatisfied with the policies of the Finance Minister. That is why he was made a Presidential candidate... He was not listening to him and that is why this has been found a way to ease him out of the Cabinet. There are a lot of doubts and questions in the minds of the people," Joshi said.

On General Anti-Avoidance Rules ( GAAR), he said the party was opposed to bringing it with retrospective effect. "We had opposed it in Parliament...Why did you not think then and why now?" he wondered.

Criticising the government for policy paralysis and the current economic state, Joshi said, "the truth is that even Reserve Bank of India was not happy with the government's functioning. Even today there is a statement from the RBI that due to policy paralysis there is crisis in economy."

Joshi said that BJP has been saying for a long time that "government does not have the capacity to take decisions and whatever decisions it has taken, it does not have the capacity to implement them."

The BJP leader said all sectors had lost confidence in the government. "The industry has lost confidence in the government. Bureaucracy has lost confidence in the government. They are not working," he claimed.

Commenting on the Prime Minister's statement that investment is required in the country, Joshi said it was futile to talk about investments when Indian businessmen themselves are looking to invest abroad.

"The country's economy is going from bad to worse because of the weakness of the government. If Rupee keeps falling like this, then how will the economy be stabilised...Government has itself destabilised economy of the country," he said.

Asking the Prime Minister to spell out the policy and road-map for reviving and stabilising the economy, the BJP leader said, "till the time there is economic stability, there will not be any political stability. Both are linked."

Joshi also criticised the government for "wasting" money on populist schemes like MNREGA, which, he said, have been afflicted by corruption.

"We are not obstructionists, but we do not want lop-sided approach on the nation's economy. The road-map for inclusive development is not clear...BJP is ready to support in the interest of nation or common man to bring the economy on the road to development," he said.